


As Ye Sew, So Shall Ye Rip

by pinecontents



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: asshole/idiot to friends, fabric store au, flannel, plaid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 10:44:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20852153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinecontents/pseuds/pinecontents
Summary: A post with an argument about how every piece of fabric with a plaid pattern isn't flannel, ending with "enemies to lovers, fabric store AU, 40k words", came across my tumblr dash, so of course I thought about it while I was at sewing class.





	As Ye Sew, So Shall Ye Rip

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr post in question: https://pinecontents.tumblr.com/post/188046981771/stop-calling-every-piece-of-fabric-with-a-plaid

“Hey!”

Rhett turned around to see a guy with dark hair and dark glasses grinning goofily at him. Dork, thought Rhett

“Don’t see many other guys who sew,” the other guy said. 

“We exist,” Rhett said. He’d started sewing because he wanted to be able to tailor his own shirts, but quickly discovered that it was far easier to make a shirt from scratch than it was to alter an existing garment. That had been years ago, and these days he was pretty accomplished and made almost all his own shirts.

“You makin’ a flannel, too?” He had a bolt of something plaid in his arms.

Rhett glanced down at the three bolts of shirting fabric he was holding, none of which were flannel. Two were madras plaids, one mostly pink and the other blue and brown. The third bolt was a rich blue printed with little golden pineapples. “A flannel?” he asked in confusion.

“Yeah, a flannel shirt. Like lumberjacks wear.” The guy clumsily juggled a pattern envelope and a spool of thread and managed to unfold a flap of fabric from the bolt. It was red and black buffalo check. Rhett thought it might be a polyester knit of some kind. “See?”

Rhett stopped himself from rolling his eyes, barely. “Flannel ain’t a pattern, man. It’s a kind of cloth.”

“I...what?”

“It’s, like, a woven fabric that’s kinda fuzzy. Flannel shirts are cotton, usually, and that-” he nodded at the bolt of knit polyester, “ain’t flannel.” He looked at the other guy, whose smile was beginning to fade. “You don’t have any idea what you’re doing, do you?”

The smile was completely gone now. “Guess not,” the dark haired guy mumbled. He chewed his lip and looked around nervously. Rhett suddenly felt a wave of guilt.

Crap. Rhett didn’t want to shame someone out of sewing, especially another man. He dropped his bolts on the cutting table.

“Look, is this the first thing you’re making?” he asked.

“Yeah.” The guy clutched his bolt of fabric to his chest unhappily.

“Lemme see your pattern.” Rhett inspected it and looked up at the other man. “Okay, this is actually a pretty advanced pattern. Are you taking a class?”

“No. I was just watching videos on Youtube.” He shrugged. “Got a machine off Craigslist and thought it might be fun.”

Rhett tapped the pattern on the cutting table and thought. “I don’t want to be an asshole here--”

“Kinda late for that,” the other man pointed out.

Rhett sighed. “Yeah, sorry about that. But what I was gonna say is that this isn’t really a beginner pattern, and if you try to make this by yourself with just Youtube videos, you’re probably gonna get real frustrated and give up.” He pointed at the bolt of buffalo check fabric. “Especially if you use that. It’s completely the wrong fabric for this.”

The dark haired guy looked down at his bolt of fabric. “So what should I use instead? And how do I pick a good pattern?”

“Well…” Rhett smiled. “I think you should get some real flannel. And maybe start with something really simple, like pajama pants.”

“Oh. Thanks.” The guy dumped the bolt of polyester on the cutting table. “Do you know where the flannel is?”

“Yep.” Rhett picked up his shirting fabric. “C’mon, let’s go get you set up.”

“You’re gonna help me?”

“Yeah, man. Sewing is fun, but you gotta start simple.” He paused. “What’s your name?”

“Link.”

“I’m Rhett.” He stuck his hand out, a little awkwardly under the bolts, and they shook.

“Nice to meet you,” Link said, and smiled at Rhett, who decided Link wasn’t a dork at all. He was actually pretty cute.

“You wanna bring your machine over to my place sometime? For a lesson?” Rhett asked. He cringed a little inwardly. Was that too forward? Did he just ask this guy out? Would Link freak out? What was going on?

But Link just smiled again, shyer this time, and said, “Yeah. That sounds nice.”

He ended up choosing a blue plaid flannel to make pajama pants, and Rhett got the same fabric and pattern--for a sew along lesson of course. Certainly not so they would have matching pants.

**Author's Note:**

> Sewing is fun and making things for yourself is extremely satisfying, but unless you're some kind of prodigy, trying to make a PLAID dress shirt of all things as a first project is going to end badly.


End file.
